Reports from the Bee's investigative team

February 28, 2011

Since 2009, no other NBA team has seen fewer fans come to home games than the Sacramento Kings.

Only three other teams in major professional sports -- the NHL's Thrashers, Coyotes and NY Islanders -- posted average attendance at home games during that period lower than the Kings.

Most NFL teams drew more total fans to their regular season games during 2009 and 2010 than the NBA's Kings -- even though NFL teams only play eight home games, albeit in much larger stadiums. No NHL or MLB team drew fewer total fans to home games during 2009 and 2010 than the Kings.

A lot of that comes down to the Kings recent losing ways, which arguably fall at the feet of decisions made by the team's owners. But if you owned the Kings, would you stay in a town showing the following attendance trend line?

On the state level, 2010 union membership ranged from 3.2 percent in North Carolina to 24.2 percent in New York. California is fifth with 17.5 percent of wage and salary workers belonging to a labor union.

California has defied the national trend by showing an increase in membership rate from 15.5 percent in 2000 to 17.5 percent in 2010. In comparison the U.S. rate fell from 13.4 percent to 11.9 percent over that period.

February 24, 2011

New data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis shows vividly the toll the recession has taken on urban areas. Overall, U.S. metropolitan areas experienced a 2.4 percent fall in real GDP in 2009 after dropping 0.4 percent in 2008. (Real GDP is adjusted for inflation.) Declines occurred in 80 percent of the nation's 366 Metropolitan Statistical Areas.

U.S. metro GDP peaked in 2007. For all industries, the percent change in real GDP from 2007 to 2009 was -2.9 percent. The hardest hit sectors were construction (-20.63), accommodation and food service (-14.40), non-durable good manufacturing (-13.82) and leisure and hospitality (-13.07).

The Sacramento MSA was hit harder than the country as a whole. Its GDP fell -5.16 percent from 2007-09. The biggest losers were construction (-27.60), accommodation and food service (-18.45), leisure and hospitality (-15.91), retail trade (-14.52).

February 22, 2011

The relatively high prevalence of hearing loss among seniors is no surprise, but a new study published in the latest Archives of Otolaryngology indicates the problem is significant among middle-aged adults, 45-54.

Researchers tested the hearing of some 3,300 adults ranging in age from 21 to 84. Overall, 14.1 percent were found to have some level of impairment. According to the study, hearing loss tends to increase with age:

When you dig into the data, though, the only way Sacramento can possibly be one of the most miserable cities in America is if you equate misery with unemployment and foreclosures. By most other measures, Sacramento ranks way ahead of a lot of cities Forbes considers happier.

To illustrate that, here's a chart comparing Sacramento to two Rust Belt cities Forbes says are much less miserable than Sacramento: Detroit and Buffalo.

Total mortgage debt -- by far the largest part of family borrowing -- declined 9.1 percent from its peak in 2008Q3. Debt from home equity lines of credit also fell, 6.5 percent from its peak in 2009Q1.

The NY Fed estimates that 211 million credit accounts closed during 2010, compared to the 164 million that opened during the same period. The number of open credit card accounts fell 23 percent in 2010Q4 from its high in 2008Q2.

Debt delinquency rates have also been dropping. At the end of 2010, 10.8 percent of loans were in some stage of delinquency, compared to 11.1 percent at the end of the third quarter and 12.0 percent at the end of 2009.

PPIC also reports that overall 81 percent of Californians judged their own health as "good," "very good" or "excellent." But there are significant demographic differences in that perception. Respondents were more likely to rate their health as "fair" or "poor," if they are low income, have less education, lack health insurance or are a member of a minority group.

Those surveyed generally rated local health and medical services as "good" or "excellent." But when asked if local services struck the balance between treatment and prevention, 60 percent wanted more focus on prevention.

February 5, 2011

California universities award close to 50 percent of doctoral degrees to women, but there are still huge gender differences in what the state's brightest students choose to study. Women still lag in engineering and the sciences, with the exception of biology. Men continue to largely shun study of languages and psychology.

The below chart shows the percentage of doctoral degrees awarded to women by California universities during 2008, the most recent year for which complete data is available.

February 4, 2011

Despite losing their jobs, tens of thousands of Californians have stuck to their lottery habit. In fact, the proportion of lottery players who are unemployed has grown even faster than the proportion of the population without a job.

One reason for this is likely some recent, huge jackpots. Plus, even more than others, the unemployed might relish a $2 chance to solve all their monetary problems.

February 3, 2011

Recently this blog noted a CDC study that found many Americans with hypertension and high cholesterol --risk factors for heart disease -- are not receiving proper treatment. Of course proper treatment is based on early discover for these conditions and accordingly doctors do recommend regular blood pressure and cholesterol screening tests.

But according to a Consumer Reports survey, many individuals are seeking and getting additional tests that experts say are unnecessary, even harmful, for adults with low or normal risk for heart disease. The CR poll shows 44 percent of healthy people getting ill-advised screenings, such as an electrocardiogram (EKG), a blood test for C-reactive protein (CRP), and an exercise stress test.

To help you understand the appropriateness of various tests, CR provides a free online health calculator which takes factors such as age, gender, BMI, blood pressure and cholesterol level, and figures your overall risk of heart problems. Then you can consult a handy table listing each test, its benefits, liabilities, costs and who should get it, based on age, gender and disease risk.

Individuals lacking health insurance are most likely to lack treatment. But even among those who are insured, many aren't controlling their hypertension and cholesterol adequately.

By the numbers:

High Blood Pressure1 in 3 Adults has high blood pressure1 in 3 Adults with high blood pressure does not get treatment1 in 2 Adults with high blood pressure does not have it under controlHigh Cholesterol1 in 3 Adults has high cholesterol1 in 2 Adults with high cholesterol does not get treatment2 in 3 Adults with high cholesterol do not have it under control

About The Public Eye

Welcome to The Bee's newest blog: Public Eye. In the coming months, you will see us breaking news here as well as following up on investigations we have published with tidbits, news breaks and behind-the-scenes descriptions of our news-gathering process. Know of a wrong we could right? Send our fraud squad your tips at: fraudsquad@sacbee.com.